Short overview

We look at things through the robot camera, like through a remote third eye to get an idea of other realities and perspectives.

The main idea of the multidisciplinary media art project THE THIRD EYE is to connect individuals, institutions and groups from different areas in Europe in an artistic, technological, educational and cultural exchange. Participants are several school projects in various cities of the Ruhr District in Germany, a three-parted project in the City of Wakefield in Great Britain, a project in Tallinn, Estonia and so far one project in the Randstad District in the Netherlands, represented by the city of Dordrecht with an open citizen workshop.

The topics of the projects are “What is a city?” and “What could a city be?” - it unites pupils, students, artists etc. in the creation of new model future cities based on the themes Urbanism, Identity and Integration. In THE THIRD EYE the participants construct, express and exchange visions and ideas on how they live, how they want to live and how to design and plan their urban landscapes.

THE THIRD EYE was chosen to be an official project of Ruhr.2010 (www.ruhr2010.de) respectively TWINS2010. Quote from the TWINS website (www.twins2010.com) : „TWINS2010 is a project of the Ruhr`s bid for European Capital of Culture 2010. It stands for the exchange of ideas, pooling of resources and cooperation between the Ruhr region and European partners.“

The Participation of the Pupils
Participating pupils from different cities of the Ruhr District in Germany, Wakefield, Tallinn and maybe in the Netherlands will build models of their cities as the "City of the future" in a 1:50 scale to tell about their perceptions and their living environments. A remote controlled (cable) video robot, which the pupils design and construct, allows them to interactively explore and discover the models they build. Before making the models and the robot, the students become acquainted with their environment, city and region from a historical perspective. They then select salient places or buildings, copy them as models and partly extend or alter them with their future conceptions or come up with entirely new ones. In an optimal procedure the school groups will visit each other as well as use videoconferencing and Internetchats to discuss and exchange experiences and information about their homes, their future visions and also about the project itself.

Professional and Student Participation
Regional, national and international students, artists, architects or designers or urban planners will also create Cybercities. The artistic idea is the attempt to visualize the various powers of a non-existent “centre” in the Ruhr District, in Wakefield, in the Randstad District or in Tallinn. The main focus is an artistic analysis of the central topics of urban culture in relation to the home environment, such as:

- Influence of Modern Technology
- Changes in the Climate
- Identity and Integration
- Demographic Changes
- Life in Virtual Worlds

Final Exhibition in 2010
In 2010 all model environments are being shipped to Essen, combined and installed in the final THE THIRD EYE exhibition. Various technologies, such as the video robots and interfaces, will be developed and designed in collaboration with the University of Duisburg-Essen and others. The video robots can be steered through the displayed architectural model environments locally by people standing on game style step pads and worldwide through the Internet from the exhibition website. The remote eyes of the robots work like remotely controlled „third eyes“ of the viewers and will give people from all over the globe the ability to interactively explore the environments like a pedestrian, stroll through model streets and peek into buildings. This is also a unique way for the involved cities to participate in the exhibition, it offers a platform to exchange information about our hometowns and our visions for the future. Wakefield is joining in via a parallel virtual exhibition.

Pupils’ comments

“I would have never visited those places on my own but with the group it was fun!“
(Pascal Hartstock (15), Erich-Fried Gesamtschule, Herne)

“Zollverein is a symbol for the whole Ruhr District. In former times it was a coal mine and today it has become a cultural centre. I really appreciate that such an old building still exists in Essen.“ (David Fuerst (16), Hauptschule Karnap, Essen)

“The “houses of our dreams“ are really hot. There is not a thing to complain about. Especially the house with the blue snakes is a real work of art!“
(Mario Hünerbein (16), Hauptschule Karnap, Essen)